Manhattan Snaps: Shoeshine boy in ’24

A young bootblack, with his shoeshine equipment at City Hall Park in Lower Manhattan, gave a direct look to the camera on July 25, 1924. The photographer, Lewis Hine, was also a sociologist who used photography to advocate for reforming child labor laws. Hine was an investigative photographer for the National Child Labor Committee from 1908 to 1924, and explored the working and living conditions of the country’s children during that time.